What lines offer ship tours while in port

[LMaxwell]

Princess offers ship tours for $39 through their Bon Voyage Experience for non-travelers to take a ships tour at port of embarkation. I am interested to board/tour/view ships of various lines.

 

Besides Princess does any other line offer this? I have heard of group tours arranged in the past, how would I find out about those?

[paul929207]

Princess also offers the "Ultimate Ship Tour". It is a several hour tour of the ship, but I think it is only on a sea day, not a port day. Cost is about $150, I believe

[chengkp75]

Princess also offers the "Ultimate Ship Tour". It is a several hour tour of the ship, but I think it is only on a sea day, not a port day. Cost is about $150, I believe

 

OP was talking about touring a ship that they are not cruising on. AFAIK, Princess is the only line to do this, and it is limited in the ports where it is offered.

[LMaxwell]

OP was talking about touring a ship that they are not cruising on. AFAIK, Princess is the only line to do this, and it is limited in the ports where it is offered.

 

That is true. I wanted to tour the Ruby when my folks embark this month but it was not available at Port Everglades, yet I am touring Royal Princess this month...at Port Everglades.

 

I just find ships interesting in general and while it is not a behind the scenes "how do they make it all work" sort of tour it will be nice to get a "feel" for a line I haven't tried yet or don't have immediate plans to sail on.

 

I'd like to see the large NCL ships, any HAL ship, Carnival ships larger than Fantasy class, would like to see a Radiance-class RCI ship.

[boogs]

As far as I can tell, Princess' guest tours are only available if you have family or friends booked on the cruise.

Edited April 6, 2014 by boogs

[LMaxwell]

As far as I can tell, these guest tours are only available if you have family or friends booked on the cruise.

 

They are open to general public. No association with a booked guest is needed.

[sail7seas]

Sometimes TA's have 'familiarization' invitations from HAL to tour ships in port. They might be invited for lunch and a tour or just the tour and sometimes they can bring along a client. If you have a TA close acquaintance or working relationship, I would try that avenue.

[Lerin]

They are open to general public. No association with a booked guest is needed.

I was not aware of this. Does anyone have more information on how to register or what ports this happens in?

[trabeler]

I was not aware of this. Does anyone have more information on how to register or what ports this happens in?

 

Information can be found here:

 

https://book.princess.com/BookingSystem/jsp/home/ship_visit/BonVoyageExperience.jsp

 

Normally there is also a list of the ports and dates where it is offered, since it is not available on every ship and every sailing. This site is missing the dates for 2014 but perhaps you could call and ask for the 2014 information.

[Taxguy77]

4 of us toured Europe after college, many years ago. We had bought a VW and brought it home with us, so we came on a Japanese freighter. We gave a bottle to the purser and one to the Captain before we left port. The first night we were invited up to the bridge to observe the complex trip out of port (Belgium) with all the ships in the area.

I sat at the Engineers table and had purchased the same camera in Europe he had just bought, but I had sent some pics home and had a good critique from a camera shop, so was able to help him learn his faster. He gave us a very complete tour of the engine room.There were several men wiping the metal, keeping it clean.

There was never a crewman on deck that was not wearing a white T shirt that looked new. Boy are they clean! The ship matched any cruiseship I have been on in that area.

Edited April 7, 2014 by Taxguy77

[jocap]

This happens quite a lot in the UK; I've toured HAL as have many of my forum friends- they offer the day and lunch for free at various UK ports each year. Other lines offer a day on board including meals for around £25- which I

believe is returned if you book a cruise. Certainly friends on another forum go for lunch on Cunard, P&O, MSC, Marco Polo etc. Marco Polo also offered overnight visits, including all food and entertainment, when berthed in London, for a price much less than an hotel in the capital.

[LMaxwell]

Some good stories in here.

 

I supposed the most practical next step is to send email to various cruise lines and ask about such tours or if they can direct me to an agent that arranges tours.